Sleeveless shift – Skirt

In the previous post, the bodice of the shift was patterned and sewn together.  The next step is to add the skirt.

The skirt is easy enough to pattern.  It is merely two rectangles that will be be sewn together at the side seams and then pleated into the bodice.  The finishing touch will be to hem it.

Now for the measurements.  I decided that I wanted the shift to be somewhere between knee and mid-calf length.  I also determined that each panel should be half again the width of the bodice piece it would be attached to.  Since the hem stops at just above mid-calf I won’t need a bazillion miles of hem width.  Just make sure that your skirt is wide enough to go over the widest part of you easily.

Once the skirt panels were cut I seamed the sides with a simple running stitch leaving the top five inches of the sides open.  

Once the sides were stitched up I ironed the seams open to treat them for the purpose of being able to launder them without them falling apart.

Next I used a half inch seam allowance to create the bottom hem.  I did this before putting the skirt on the bodice so that there would be less bulk to deal with while hemming.

I pinned and pleated the skirt to the outer fabric of the bodice.  I sewed this together by machine to make sure of a stout seam.

Folded and stitched inner lining of bodice over the seam allowance of the skirt and outer fabric.

The next step is to add eyelet holes for spiral lacing the sides of the shift.  That will happen in the next post.